Union Civile? Surely gay marriage is the best option

Firstly, I am outraged that the Policy Council has been so slow in looking into gay marriage/civil partnerships etc. On the current public survey it states:

'In September 2006 the States directed the Policy Council to investigate legislation which would enable people (including those in same sex relationships) to enter into civil partnerships in Guernsey.'

Well, it is totally ridiculous that it has taken them nine years to create a SurveyMonkey, to hear the views of islanders. However, I do appreciate them finally doing one. I was also thrilled by the recent news that same-sex couples can now adopt in the island.

Secondly, they keep banging on about how Union Civile is the Policy Council's preferred option. Well what about the public's preferred option? Their survey is written in a totally biased manner, with a lot of confusing and complicated questions (including double-negatives) for them to get their end result of Union Civile.

Now I know their reasoning for this approach. Jonathan Le Tocq and other high-up individuals in the island know and accept that they have to do something. They can't avoid it really, times have changed and they have to keep face. But they only want to do enough to solve the problem in the short term, according to their own personal agendas.

I agree that a civil partnership or Union Civile is better than nothing. But it is not equality. With Union Civile only straight couples will then be able to move from that legislation to being married. Well frankly that isn't fair or acceptable. It is also too complicated. Why not keep it simple with any straight or same-sex couple being able to get married and say they are? With Union Civile I would say to someone that my partner and I are married and no doubt some politically-correct person would say, well actually you're not!

Let's face it Union Civile has effectively been created to keep certain islanders happy. Now I fully respect those who choose to be religious, but they should also accept that not everyone has the same views or beliefs as them. I understand that to them marriage is between a man and a women and that's that. However, the world has moved on, as shown by Ireland, which is very Catholic, and also by America, with a lot of heavily Christian states.

It won't come as any shock to you that a lot of people that get married aren't religious at all, but use the church to have their fairytale wedding. I'm not asking to get married in a church, but I should be able to have a full marriage ceremony instead of a Union Civile. Especially as the term 'marriage' in the 21st century often doesn't have any connotations with religion, instead many see it as the commitment of two individuals who are in love.

On this I would personally like to thank the Rev. Linda Le Vasseur for sharing her views and also arguing for same-sex civil marriage. It was incredibly refreshing to hear her concerns around Union Civile.

I feel that it is absolutely ludicrous to go down the Union Civile route. It won't be known or accepted by other jurisdictions and territories (no matter what the States tells you).

Also, this is a costly exercise to the taxpayer as a halfway-house measure, which will need to be changed/amended at a later point. Why not get it right now in one go, instead of proceeding with a bizarre piece of legislation only to then pay to have it changed in another few years.

Finally, we are in a situation where the working population is decreasing year on year, with more people living longer and depending on States pensions etc. Don't push gay people to leave the island by not allowing us full equality. Forgive me for speaking incredibly generally, but we tend to pay into the system and not take out (as the majority of us do not have children). So really we help pay for other people's children to go to schools etc. through our taxes. We often have a good disposable income and therefore help boost the local economy. Remember we just want the right to marry, which the majority of people can take for granted.

Thank you for reading my views on this matter and I would urge anyone that hasn't already done so (no matter what your views are) to complete the States of Guernsey survey available at http://www.gov.gg/unioncivile

MARC BRETON